Fishing tips: Moreton Bay after cyclone Alfred

Cyclone Alfred certainly threw a spanner in the works and I hope everyone has recovered. April will see the weather cool, and it is the start of the transition into our winter fishing opportunities.

Flooding rains and prolonged strong winds obviously impact Moreton Bay and its fishing. A drought on the land is a drought in the ocean, and flooding rain has long term benefits for our fisheries. While Moreton Bay and its fish are naturally well-adapted to flooding rains, the challenge is that the rains now occur on highly modified catchments and shorelines.

A negative already being experienced is the number of small and large Tilapia which have been flushed out into marine waters. They are an invasive freshwater species that can survive for prolonged periods of time in brackish and marine waters and pose a risk to aquatic biodiversity. If you catch a Tilapia, you are required to kill it humanely and dispose of it appropriately away from the water.

The positives of the rainfall can be increased successful recruitment of various fish species including mangrove jack and mulloway which will mean increased populations in future years.

Estuary and land based

The estuaries are obviously significantly impacted by the rainfall and run-off and the lower reaches are the areas that should be targeted. Bream will be plentiful for those that want to target them, with lower reaches of the Pine River and around the Ted Smout Memorial Bridge the most consistent location to find them.

The foreshore around Redcliffe will also produce some fish. Spotted javelin fish will also be mixed in with the bream catches. The rain will have the mulloway fired up and if you put in effort with live baits and lures such as vibes fished in the deeper water, you should be rewarded. The legal size of mulloway in Queensland is 75cm and the in-possession limit is two fish per person. Take care if you catch and release mulloway to ensure that their chances of survival are maximised.

April generally sees tailor start to show up in numbers around the foreshore. While jetties such as Woody Point are well known for tailor, the consistently better-quality fish generally come from the foreshore areas such as Clontarf and Scarborough around high tide. Night is best to target and catch the bigger fish using bait such as a well-presented pilchard. I generally prefer the smaller pilchards on 3 x 3/0 ganged hooks.

Crabbing and prawning

For the cast netters, banana prawns had been starting to get a good go on before Cyclone Alfred. The rain has certainly moved them from where they were, but the good news is that they are still around with parts of Bramble and Deception Bays being where to look for them.

Mud crabs got a new lease on life after the rain, so while it is certainly late in their season, they are still active. The lower reaches of our rivers and creeks will be where to look for them and there will also be a few for those that set pots along the foreshores and the shallow parts of Bramble and Deception Bays. Blue swimmer crab catches have been good in the shallows and the deeper waters and that should continue this month.

Inshore Reefs and Bay Waters

Boat fishing was curtailed for a while, and you should continue to keep an eye out for large debris. Around the rocky reefs of Redcliffe and the coffee rock ledges along Moreton Island there have been squire, grass sweetlip, and estuary cod. Barred javelin fish have also been around the Redcliffe Peninsula. For those that want to tussle with tuskfish, black spot tuskfish can be caught using crabs for bait along the ledges of Moreton Island. A truly challenging fish to target, rewarding when you land them, and great on the table.

Ocean Beaches

The ocean beaches have copped an absolute hammering and 4WD conditions are very different than they were, so take care. It will take some time for beach formations to recover. For beach fishing I would be focussing on the northern beaches of Moreton Island for a mixed bag of sand whiting, yellowfin bream, swallowtail dart and tarwhine. April is not necessarily a peak time, but yabbies, pippies or live worms should produce a mixed bag.

Offshore Waters

Those who have been able to finally venture offshore have largely been rewarded. There has been wahoo, yellowtail kingfish, tunas and Spanish mackerel. The second of the annual Spanish mackerel spawning closure has finished. The in-possession limit on Spanish mackerel is one fish per person, or two per boat if there are two or more people on board. The FADS continue to produce mahi mahi.

Reef fishing has been good with snapper and silver trevally from the shallower reefs and pearl perch and teraglin from the deeper reefs.

Tight lines everyone!

Daryl McPhee is an associate professor of environmental science at Bond University.